Multinational to make pharmaceuticals in Malta

The pharmaceutical manufacturing company Arrow Pharm will commence operations in Malta next June following two years of preparation, Economic Services Minister Josef Bonnici told a news conference yesterday.

The company has taken over an 8,000 square metre factory at Hal Far, allocated to it by the Malta Development Corporation, and will be conducting research into patented pharmaceuticals to be able to issue generic versions once patents elapse.

It will be able to do this by exploiting the favourable patents legislation in Malta, Arrow Group technical director Anne Power said.

The news comes in the wake of the upgrading and expansion plans announced recently by another pharmaceutical company, Pharmamed.

Prof. Bonnici said these developments had reinforced the government's conviction that the pharmaceutical industry held particular potential for Malta. It was one of the niche areas that would be actively promoted by Malta Enterprise, once this new organisation was up and running.

Arrow Pharm (Malta) Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arrow Group, a multinational pharmaceutical company with its head office in Denmark. The company has 12 market operations worldwide and will be supplying its Malta-made and researched products all over the world, except initially to the US.

The company is in the process of adapting and customising the factory to its requirements with an investment which is expected to exceed Lm3 million.

The factory is due to be completed towards the end of next month and this will be followed by the installation and commissioning of machinery and equipment.

Trial production would then follow before regular production commences in June.

The company has already recruited a quality assurance manager and a plant engineer, who have been sent overseas for specialised training.

Recruitment of additional personnel will commence shortly. It is expected that the company will employ about 40 persons during its first year of operation and around 200 within five years.